New Industry Products

Freescale Adds Two Devices To High-Side Switch Portfolio

October 21, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

Freescale Semiconductor announced an expansion of its portfolio of high-side switches. The company’s latest additions to its switch portfolio, the MC33580 and MC33874 quad-channel high-side switches, are designed to reduce the cost and complexity of low-voltage automotive, industrial lighting and motor control applications.

The MC33580 and MC33874 switches are built on Freescale’s advanced SMARTMOS™ and HDTMOS process technologies, which are said to enable cost-effective integration of dense CMOS logic, precise analog circuitry and robust load/output drivers. These system-in-package devices are also said to be engineered to bring robust high current load control to demanding automotive applications.

The quad-channel switches are designed to enhance board space efficiency and enable system-level cost savings. The switches work with microcontrollers to provide necessary control and protection enhancements for various loads, such as motors, lighting, actuators (relays and solenoids) and other inductive, resistive or capacitive elements.

"Freescale’s latest high-side switches are well suited for harsh automotive and industrial environments and are robust companions to our industry-leading, automotive-qualified microcontrollers," said Arman Naghavi, VP and General Manager of Freescale’s Analog, Mixed-Signal and Power Division. "Our high-side switches based on SMAR™OS and HD™OS technology offer a high level of integration that helps our customers reduce power, cost and board space."

The MC33580 and MC33874 devices feature under- and over-voltage/over-temperature protection capabilities that help safeguard the loads they drive, as well as the high-side switches themselves. Built-in standby and sleep modes enable energy savings in power-constrained applications. The switches are user-programmable through a serial peripheral interface (SPI), which enables tight control of fault currents and can help protect wiring harnesses and circuit boards.

The devices feature low RDSON high-side switch outputs (4 to 35mΩ); serial peripheral interface (SPI) for output control and diagnostics; parallel control with pulse-width modulation (PWM) capability at 300 Hz; output switch slew rate control; under/over voltage shutdown; over-current and over-temperature protection; low standby/sleep state current (typical at 5µA); temperature feedback; operating voltage up to 27V; and an operating temperature range of -40 to 125°C.

The high-side switches are available now in production quantities for the following suggested per-unit resale pricing (USD) in 10,000-piece quantities: MC33580 15mΩ quad high-side switch at $2.74; MC33874 35mΩ quad high-side switch at $2.54.